Afghanistan star Rashid Khan continues with his unorthodox dominance

Afghanistan and its two most potent weapons—Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman—have been raising their benchmark in the world of cricket. They both with their duo onslaught diminished all the hopes of Bangladesh top order. Hence resulting which Afghanistan side have succeeded to make a mark in their first ever ‘home’ series here on Sunday night as the city celebrated its maiden international cricket game at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium.

As it happened in the first T20

Firstpost

The first T20I played with loads of chaos and much fanfare, and at the end, it favored the Afghanistan side to clinch a 45-run win with the help of their stalwarts stepping up their game and never let Bangladesh dominate en route of their chasing down the target of 168 in 20 overs. Mujeeb and Rashid the big guns of Afghanistan wasted no time in making an impact with the ball once the Bangladesh chase started. Both their stalwarts succeeded in their job as this duo dismissed top Bangladesh batsmen off their first delivery. Mujeeb returned Tamim Iqbal with a leg before while Rashid took Mushfiqur Rahim and trapped Sabbir Rahman off the next ball and came on a hat-trick.

The off-spin of veteran Mohammad Nabi also showed his class of wrist work as he ended up his spell with figures of 2/21 in four overs but somehow Rashid outshone them all with 3/13 in three overs.

Along with the bowlers and their destructive impact, the Afghan batsmen also seemed to have claimed credit for the victory. Mohammad Shahzad made sure his mature presence on the sluggish pitch and plated a platform for his mates down the order with a 37-ball 40. Following the mature innings played by Shahzad, Smiullah Shenwari and Shafiqullah Shafiq unleashed their hammering with 36 (18b) and 34 (8b) respectively to deflate the Bangladeshi attack.

Belonging to the cohort of cricket fanatics, Ranojoy Middya is an assiduous cricketer who aspires to live life in purview of the cricketing world; penning his line of thinking at present and living up to it in the near future.